The Jacksonville Jaguars are doing their best to test the heart strength of their fans. They dominate games that—on paper—look to be tough matchups (such as their 35-6 win over the Chargers), then let the 3-8 Arizona Cardinals and the 2-9 Las Vegas Raiders take them into overtime, barely sneaking away with a win. Players look great, then...not so much.
As a result of this up-and-down season, we've seen the team surge and sag in the NFL Power Rankings around the league on a weekly basis. You've only had to read a few of my articles to know how I feel about these rankings (ie, they mean almost nothing), but they can still be fun to watch, especially when the Jaguars have beaten three of the teams often ranked above them (looking at you, ESPN).
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence is a big reason for this discrepancy. In those two close games to sub-.500 teams, he threw a combined four interceptions and averaged a rating of 77.3. Opposing quarterbacks in those games? A mere two interceptions and an average rating of 104.95. Watching Lawrence play is like gambling—he's either a top-three quarterback in the league or Zach Wilson.
Let's take a moment during this holiday week to look around the league at where talking heads have placed the Jaguars.
Related: Jaguars pull shockingly high grade after scraping past the Cardinals
NBC Sports: The Jaguars ranked No. 11
To be fair, NBC Sports has the Jaguars ranked in the same spot they were last week. And, unlike ESPN (more on them in a minute), they didn't place any of the teams the Jaguars have beaten above them. They do have the right take on Lawrence: "Trevor Lawrence keeps making mistakes, but the Jaguars keep winning."
CPS Sports: The Jaguars ranked No. 13
Like NBC Sports, CBS Sports didn't move the Jaguars up or down in their power rankings, keeping them firmly at No. 13. Also like NBC, they have the right take at quarterback: "Somehow this team is 7-4 with a soft schedule down the stretch. They will likely be a playoff team, but Trevor Lawrence has to be better."
ESPN: Jaguars ranked No. 14
Not only does ESPN have Jacksonville ranked lowest among these three, but they've also placed three teams above them who've fallen to the Jaguars this season: the Kansas City Chiefs, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Los Angeles Chargers.
While I'm willing to let the 49ers' ranking go (Mac Jones started in place of an injured Brock Purdy when they played), the Chargers' ranking feels especially egregious, given they sit one spot above Jacksonville and were annihilated by the Jaguars just two weeks ago. If anything, they deserve to swap places here.
In their defense, they did raise the Jaguars up from No. 17 last week. Though 17 felt particularly insulting, since they once again had the Chargers at No. 14 last week—three spots ahead of Jacksonville.
Final thoughts
If you can't tell, I'm not a fan of NFL Power Rankings. League-wide analysts try to rank 32 teams without having the time to dive deep into any one of them. ESPN's feels the worst.
But it doesn't really matter. You know what matters? Wins and losses, and right now, the Jaguars still sit at 7-4, one game behind the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC South and the No. 6 seed if the season ended today.